debunix wrote:Hmm.....a good reminder that I am out of Houjicha, need to put it on the tea reorder list.

Houjicha is something I feel that I must keep stocked. It is also useful for cooking desserts! Houjicha ice cream, cake, etc is a beautiful thing. I tend to have a lot of "throw-away" teas stocked around, like kukicha (roasted version too!), aracha, konacha, genmai, etc. They don't really lose their flavor like a gyokuro or a shincha would even if stored sloppily, they are great meal teas, and they aren't fussy when I don't have time to really pay much attention to my brew. They are easy to brew in large batches as well. Oh, and they tend to be cheaper. All these things make them great for buying in bulk.

I tend to use some not-so-fancy traditional roast oolongs or shu puerh for the same purpose--to always have something dependable, versatile, easy, and tasty. I even keep my Houjicha in the same section of the tea collection as those easy-brewing teas.

I'm drinking a very wonderful shincha I picked up at the sankouen vendor at Ameya Yokochou in Tokyo. I just happened to be in Tokyo at the right time for shincha season. I picked up an 80 gram bag and while I do not remember the price, it was quite reasonable. I happened to pick the one that I got to taste. The way the tenin had brewed the tea was very heady and bright and had a beautiful color. It was quite the invigorating brew with a light body that made it go down easy. Right away, the aroma of the leaf draws me in, as it is pleasant, light and fresh--spring-like if you will-- with a lovely sweetness about it. It teases your senses and invites you to stick your nose in the bag again

I opened this tea the day after my fiancee and I got back from Japan and was able to have one cup of this, along with a gyokuro and kenkoucha I bought while I was there. Sadly, my family had come to visit for a few days the night I got back from Japan and my fiancee was leaving in 3 days to spend sometime with her family, so we didn't get to sit down and indulge in the tea I purchased while I was there. This means that I have NOT been drinking too much of the good stuff I purchased in Japan while my fiancee is gone. Luckily I will be leaving in a few days to bring her back. Then it will be shincha every morning instead of koucha (紅茶 Red Tea), genmai and mugicha. I also bought her several teas in Japan as a gift for her to take home with her to enjoy, so I'm excited to get those back and try them for myself. As for my family and the tea, well... I opened the gyokuro and the shincha and while I was in ecstasy from the smell alone I passed the bags to my sister to smell and she said they both just "smell like green tea." Mind you, the only green she has ever smelled is bagged from the supermarket. I, of course, recoiled in horror and I've yet to forgive her.

Anyway, back to the shincha. Due to this lack of persistent brewing, and because I brew a billion teas a day, I can never remember my brewing parameters for this shincha. Each session is a mystery where I take a (well-reasoned) stab in the dark. They've managed to come out quite well for the most part, though one was rather underwhelming as I played it far too safe. Today's session is a real winner though. The tea brews up the most fantastic unblemished, clear and pure vibrant green and has all the grassiness of a Japanese green that I was born to love and crave for. It is a joy just to look at this tea in my cup; I am satisfied without even having to taste it! When I do manage to taste it though there is a lingering sweetness, plenty of umami, and a lack of bitterness for a very, very clean cup. I also find I can get a tremendous amount of steeps out of this with minimal leaf and without having to increase temperature. The tea is an absolute joy even at its most mellow and the leaves are tasty to eat as well. Overall, it is easy on the stomach and would be perfect to start off the day with. I'm tempted to cold-brew some in a pitcher but I don't really want to use too much leaf... so I might try it on a small scale.

Edit: In fact, I think that after having exhausted these leaves for my session that they will go into a small batch of water that I will use for cooking later. They would be a good addition while preparing dashi, I think. Perhaps I will use the water with the leaves and throw it in the rice cooker with rice to steam for dinner.

And yes I am following up this shincha with a 70 gram bag of what is labeled "joubancha". I think I bought it for a dollar or two at Daiso of all places. I was using it to make cold brew tea but I was using far too much leaf in my opinion and wasted a good half of the bag! It actually is quite good and stands up well to basically just off-the-boil water. The package recommends 15 seconds, so this is what I do, give or take. When the leaves are hit with the water it gives off an immense aroma with a comforting dampness to it. The flavor isn't bitter but the tea is astringent and there is a lot of straw and butterscotch actually. Later steeping sees it become a bit more "soupy" and the butterscotch falls off a bit and becomes a more general "sweet", but not a prominent one that really lingers on. Really not something I would prize or recommend but I enjoy it. I wish I had picked up a few more along with some other offerings they had. When used for cold brew it is very grassy, fresh, and light bodied which I quite like for a cold drink. At that price point I should have walked away with an extra suitcase full.

Pig Hog wrote:Daidokorocha, if I may ask, where are you from? From your posts, you sound Japanese but by the looks of things, you don't live in Japan anymore?

I'm probably way off the mark but curious none the less.

And right now I'm drinking genmaicha from my Hagi yaki.

I'm actually from Michigan (Detroit area) but currently going to university at UPenn in Philadelphia, so quite the ways away from Japan! I'm actually a Japanese studies scholar working towards academic fluency in Japanese at the moment as I will be attending Graduate school in Japan. I spend good time there and when I am not there I almost feel as if I am not living! Starting next summer, Japan will become the country in which I live in for the majority of my time. So yes, a little off the mark perhaps, but if everything that is planned goes smoothly as it should, I will be working my way towards permanent residency in the not too distant future. So, perhaps you're not THAT far off.

How is the genmaicha? I always need LOADS of genmaicha as I speed through it at an unbelievable rate. The nice thing I find about being IN Japan is that the prices are so very CHEAP. 200 gram bags of nice quality genmaicha (matchairi as well) are easy to find for barely anything. I haven't even touched the lower quality stuff that is surely even cheaper! You just can't get those prices online...

Good luck will all if that -- it's sounds amazing! If only my Japanese was approaching anywhere near fluency...

Genmaicha is always a winner in my book -- can't go far wrong with it. I've usually got some variant open for evening drinking and when I don't feel like putting the effort into sencha. Also great iced or cold brewed!

Japan is very accessible for English speakers, but if you want to get into the nitty gritty then good nihongo skills are priceless, I will say. I've read some of your posts around here that sound like you know at least some. Would that be a correct classification?

I will say one of the major things I always miss about Japan that is tea related is having bottled greens every five seconds away via konbini and the vending machines. Grabbing these bottles from vending machines for me is always a reminder to stop and relax and enjoy life instead of rushing around and to make sure I am being mindful. I actually had a vending machine right in the doorway of the mansion I was living in (Note for those who do not know: Apartment buildings in Japan are called mansions), but then again I had five or so across the street as well. They are EVERYWHERE! Also, having tea wherever you eat also is something I miss.

Tea is really such a central part of my life that I can't imagine going without it and Japan certainly caters towards my indulgence. It isn't about "having to have my tea" like many coffee drinkers are here in the States, or just some hobby as it is for some, but rather it is more like how soda and similar drinks, or flavors such as vanilla and chocolate, are to the average American. It is the drink that is ubiquitous and ingrained into every portion of my life. I'm sure many here share my sentiment.

Cold brewing is a lovely thing because it is zero effort! Throw it in and basically forget about it. I always have something cold brewing in the fridge alongside a few other things cooling down that I brewed normally. This way I can dump them all into travel bottles and have tea wherever I go. Luckily, I am relatively free this summer and I've had enormous amounts of time to just sit down and do nothing but brew tea all day. This has led to me refining many brewing skills and has allowed me to try out so many new things. Always a journey! it is nice being able to squeeze out every inch you can and completely enjoy a tea without any cares in the world.

The vending machines in Japan are great! I find that bottled green tea has such a distinctive taste, it just reminds me of Japan. Difficult to get hold of at home and so expensive when you can!

There is a small Japanese tea cafe about 45 minutes away from me. I forgot to buy some before I went home, but they had about 2-3 Japanese bottled green iced teas for about $2.50 each. I certainly intend to try them.

Most iced tea in the United States is abysmal.......just bottles of tea flavored corn syrup with some added chemicals. Honest T has some nice products with green tea that are delightfully *lightly* sweetened, but they are hard to find outside of food co-ops. I've heard on the West Coast some better iced teas are starting to make their way into vending machines.

I had an acquaintance in college who was a PhD student of British History. He was convinced that tea becoming the favorite drink ( over beer ) of the English changed their history.

I wonder what would happen if quality iced green tea, with all of that calming,focusing theanine became popular.

Getting back to the title of the thread, I have say I am really enjoying a cup (second infusion - interestingly better color and flavor than the first) of Uji green tea (bags) I recently got from o-cha.com.

There used to be a woman on this board who was here when I began exploring green tea beyond what I could get in local stores. She advised me to give o-cha.com a try. One of the best pieces of advice in regards to tea that I ever got.

Just opened Yutaka Midori sincha from O-Cha. Approx 10g of leaf, 250ml water for 1:00 (:30 for 2nd steep). The colour was not as nuclear green as before , it's really smooth, gently grassy with very little brininess. I really like it. The second cup was very similar to the first, though a bit darker, but smoother. I'll be opening Sae Midori at work later today (quite the day!!!).